Years before the current maelstrom in Washington, a group of university leaders, business leaders, government and military leaders was working to position U.S. higher education in a new light.
A clear need was identified for a unified national strategy to address some of the most pressing outcomes-related issues in higher education – those that have both held institutions back (inhibited change and evolution) and led to perceptions of being out-of-touch, of marginal value, or even irrelevant. Further, as suggested by Henry Stoever in his On My Agenda column in AGB Trusteeship magazine (May/June 2023), a national strategy was needed to “grow the talent needed to fuel our economy, address gaps across student groups and between the academy and industry, and achieve internationally competitive levels of learning for our students compared to their global peers.” This led to vision, shared by multiple associations and organizations, for a national council not simply on the future of U.S. higher education but on its future as a strategic asset to the nation – its democracy, economy, society, national security, and global stature.
In response, the Council on Higher Education as a Strategic Asset, was established and began nearly two-year long effort to develop and distribute a report with specific and actionable recommendations to the White House, members of Congress, leaders of federal agencies, state governors and lawmakers, state higher education boards, and CEOs.
Unlike previous commissions and councils, HESA was not the result of a presidential charge or a Congressional edict. Rather, HESA had a more organic and more representative genesis. While the original concept and early planning came from the Association of Governing Boards, it quickly (and by design) evolved into a council jointly administered and driven by multiple organizations and institutions from both the public and private sector. The HESA council was chaired by Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University, Linda Gooden, board chair of the University System of Maryland, and Robert J. King, the former assistant secretary for postsecondary education in the U.S. Department of Education. HESA also is backed by many affiliated organizations and associations. HESA commissioners and strategic advisors all have held senior executive positions in their organizations. The hope was that their important and timely work would serve to deepen and broaden the discussions around U.S. higher education as a strategic asset and an engine for growth, security, inclusion, and democracy.
The council (three co-chairs, more than 40 commissioners, and a dozen strategic advisors) comprises business, government, higher education, and military leaders with a shared goal to develop an urgent higher education strategy to raise the global competitive position of the United States. Specifically, the council was charged with developing high-impact recommendations to leverage the strengths of our higher education institutions to “drive global competitiveness, keep our nation secure, sustain our democracy, and propel economic and social prosperity.” These were bold goals at a challenging time for higher education and our nation, one that has become far more challenging in recent months as the Trump administration seeks to radically remake higher education, among other U.S. institutions.
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The final report of the HESA Council, titled “America’s Talent Moonshot: How the United States Can Win the Global Competition for Prosperity and Security,” was released last week.
The report calls for commitment to outcomes that matter most to the American people and appears to have significant alignment with the priorities of the new administration in Washington:
- Cultivate talent aligned with present and future national needs;
- Improve achievement of knowledge and essential competencies and skills;
- Develop citizens with civic knowledge
- Achieving globally competitive levels of degree and certificate attainment;
- Increase affordability and expand access.
The report explicitly calls out current and projected workforce shortages in several key industry sectors having direct impact on national and/or economic security:
- Healthcare
- AI and Cybersecurity
- K-12 Education
- Engineering
Priorities identified in the report include:
- New models for tomorrow’s learners, more personalized, more flexible, inside and outside of traditional academic settings;
- Multiple pathways for attaining degrees and credentials;
- Learning experiences that emphasize development of essential skills and competencies and prepare informed citizens to engage constructively in our democracy.
And calls for:
- Outcomes that are measurable and transparent to students, employers, and the public;
- Institutions to adopt a “national service mindset.”
The report includes a call to action to create a “coordinated national response to the complex, strategic education and talent needs of the United States,” with six specific recommendations:
- A national alliance of institutions/organizations with shared vision for higher ed’s role in advancing national competitiveness, securing democracy’s future, and addressing critical talent and educational gaps.
- An executive role within the White House to coordinate strategy and funding to achieve talent development goals.
- A national talent council to monitor and align state-level talent and skills development activities.
- Strategic investment of federal, state, and private resources
- A national recognition for institutions that contribute to the achievement of national strategic education and talent priorities.
- A public corporation that organizes and funds innovation clusters to address educational and talent priorities.
The full “America’s Talent Moonshot” report is available here.
David V. Rosowsky, Ph.D. is an award-winning author who has written extensively on challenges and opportunities facing U.S. higher education (in particular, public research universities) in the post-pandemic and multi-crisis eras. A former university vice president for research, provost and senior vice president, and dean of engineering, he currently serves as senior advisor to Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University. He also holds the title of senior fellow of ASU’s University Design Institute and served as a strategic advisor to the Council on Higher Education as a Strategic Asset (HESA).
More in Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrosowsky/
